MORGANTOWN — In recent years, the Morgantown High volleyball program has grown into one of the stronger teams in the state.
Coming off of its first state championship in program history last season, the Mohigans look like they haven’t lost a single step on the way to a 21-2 record thus far.
That comes even after the Mohigans lost their state-title winning head coach in Erica Manor, who resigned after last season for personal reasons.
MHS also saw star outside hitter Kaitlyn Anderson graduate. She plays collegiately at Saint Leo (Fla.) University now.
That hasn’t stopped first-year head coach Abigail Wolfe from not only maintaining Morgantown High’s new standard, but also raising the bar for the future of the program.
“There has been a huge growth in the sport of volleyball nationwide, and we’ve seen that here in Morgantown in recent years,” Wolfe said. “Kids are starting to play sooner than they did before; we have more clubs throughout the year.
“People are becoming more excited about the game, which creates a positive trend and a good pipeline in the area.”
That pipeline this season stretched as far as Pullman, Wash. That’s where freshman phenom Leah Greeny was this time last year.
The daughter of first-year WVU volleyball coach Jen Greeny — she was the head coach at Washington State last year — Leah has come in her first year and led the Mohigans at the net both offensively and defensively.
Success has expanded the Mohigans’ horizons. MHS has spent portions of the regular season traveling to Kentucky and Tennessee for tournaments and picked up multiple wins each weekend.
“We also have to give credit to our athletic director, John Bowers,” Wolfe said. “He has supported our vision for the program and allowed us to do things such as traveling out of state. We’ve always had such strong support, whether that’s from administration, parents, fans and community members. None of that goes unnoticed and we truly wouldn’t have our success without any of our support behind the scenes.”
Breaking in as a new state power in the sport in Class AAA was not easy.
Since 2008, the list of state-championship schools is not long: Musselman, Spring Valley and George Washington, that’s it.
That was until the Mohigans broke the chain by knocking off Musselman in the state finals a year ago, which Wolfe credits Manor for creating that path to success.
“Erica also came in with a great vision for the program when she took over,” Wolfe said. “She played at Mussleman and helped them win their first state title, and she knows what success is supposed to look like and what it takes to get there.”
Wolfe’s goal in stepping into the head coaching role was to continue what MHS had been building in recent years.
So far, so good. Morgantown’s only two setbacks this season have come against out-of-state opponents. MHS is ranked No. 1 in West Virginia, according to MaxPreps, and has already secured the No. 1 seed for the upcoming OVAC tournament.
Is there a new dynasty brewing in state volleyball? Wolfe said that was the plan.
“We want to continue to compete and win state championships, but also hope to gain some national recognition because of how we compete against some of the better teams on our schedule, particularly those out of state,” Wolfe said.
“If we continue to play together as a team and stay solid on both sides of the ball, I think we will be where we want to be at the end of the season.”
